(Isa. 53:10)
Certainly it did not “please” the Father to bruise his Son, as we currently understand and use that word. Modern translations of Isaiah render these opening lines “it was the will of the Lord” rather than “it pleased the Lord.” That gives a clearer meaning of what was meant by the word pleased when Joseph Smith translated this passage early in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, acknowledging Christ’s submission to the will of the Father in Mosiah 14 is consistent with and sets the stage for the very teaching Abinadi was about to give to King Noah and his people in Mosiah 15. Indeed, Abinadi would give a succinct definition of those who are Christ’s seed. They are those whose sins he has borne and for whom he has died. His soul truly was “an offering for sin,” bringing the joy of a glorious heavenly reunion with “his seed,” a reunion nowhere more movingly described than in President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the righteous dead. All of this is, indeed, a pleasure to the Lord.
(Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], 93–94.)
If this prophecy was meant to be fulfilled during his mortal sojourn on earth, we would list it as having failed. He did not prolong his days; a voluntary death overtook him in the prime of life… . It is only in the resurrection that the pleasure of the Lord is perfected, for it is only when “spirit and element” are “inseparably connected” that either God or man can “receive a fulness of joy” (D&C 93:33). Thus, having made his soul an offering for sin; having seen his seed—all the righteous dead from the days of Adam to that moment—as they assembled to greet and worship him in the paradise of their Lord; and having thereafter risen in glorious immortality to live and reign forever, our Messiah truly fulfilled the prophetic utterance, for then his days were prolonged forever and the pleasure in his hand was infinite.
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], 362.)
“It pleased the Lord to bruise him” is a declaration that Christ’s sacrifice was a freewill offering, on the part of both the Father and the Son. In John 3:16–17, Jesus declared that the Father had sent his Son to be sacrificed because of his love for the world. In Doctrine and Covenants 34:3, Jesus declared that he voluntarily gave his life because of his own love for the world.”
(Monte S. Nyman, Great Are the Words of Isaiah [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980], 210.)
This is a verse which requires careful consideration. God our Eternal Father loved his Only Begotten and, like any parent, surely anguished with the pain of his child. And yet, as infinitely painful as it must have been for Elohim, the hours of agony were necessary—they were a part of that plan of the Father of which Jehovah had been the chief advocate and proponent in premortality. Indeed it was needful that the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” be slain, in order that life and immortality might be brought to light. And thus “it pleased the Lord [the Father] to bruise him,” in the sense that Jesus carried out to the fullest the will of the Father, in spite of the pain associated with the implementation of the terms and conditions of that will. “Oh,” Elder Melvin J. Ballard said, “in that moment when He might have saved His Son, I thank Him and praise Him that He did not fail us, for He had not only the love of His Son in mind, but He also had love for us. I rejoice that He did not interfere, and that His love for us made it possible for Him to endure to look upon the sufferings of His Son and give Him finally to us, our Saviour and our Redeemer. Without Him, without His sacrifice, we would have remained, and would never have come glorified into His presence. And so this is what it cost, in part, for our Father in heaven to give the gift of His Son unto men” (Melvin J. Ballard—Crusader for Righteousness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 137).
(Robert L. Millet, Symposium on the Book of Mormon[Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1986], 100.)
Isaiah’s prophecy and Abinadi’s interpretation speak only of those who have been and not of those who shall yet believe… . Let us note the time and circumstances under which he will see them. Abinadi’s rendition of Isaiah’s inspired utterance says: “When his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed.” In other words, he shall see his seed after he has worked out the infinite and eternal atonement… . (Luke 23:40–43.) …
(1 Pet. 3:18–20; 4:6.) In his glorious vision of the redemption of the dead, President Joseph F. Smith saw what transpired when the Messiah visited the departed dead. “The eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me,” he said, “and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality… . All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.” (JFS–V 11–14.) …
If this prophecy [Isa. 53:10] was meant to be fulfilled during his mortal sojourn on earth, we would list it as having failed. He did not prolong his days; a voluntary death overtook him in the prime of life… . It is only in the resurrection that the pleasure of the Lord is perfected… . Thus, having made his soul an offering for sin; having seen his seed—all the righteous dead from the days of Adam to that moment … our Messiah truly fulfilled the prophetic utterance, for then his days were prolonged forever and the pleasure in his hand was infinite.
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], 360–62.)